2022 Lowrider Ride and Review

2022 Lowrider Ride and Review

Earlier this year, I did what I never thought I would ever do; I bought a new Harley. I was always in the “I’d never buy a new bike!” camp, but it happened. So here is the review of my 2022 Harley Lowrider ST. This bike was equipped with the Milwaukee 8 117” engine, 6 speed transmission, inverted forks, dual disk front brakes, cruise, fairing, and bags.

Back story:

I rode sport bikes for years, and then I was in the Dyna camp, because they are a great handling standard. Initially when the Dyna was cancelled, I was in the group of, “I’m not riding a softail! Dyna forever!”. But when the pictures of this bike were leaked, it really caught my eye. It was exactly what I wanted, on paper. But we all know that the MoCo, can fall short on promises, or overcharge for a great bike. So, once they hit the showroom floor, I called the local dealer and asked for a test ride, and they put me on a list. After a short period of time, I got a call that said “get here, we have a black one”. I rode it. I owned it. Here is my opinion of it.

First impressions. The bike has excellent lines. The FXRT style fairing looks really solid along with the shape of the bike, and the saddlebags round out the back end with excellent form. All the gauges are located in the top clamp on the handlebar risers, so this means the tank and handlebar area is incredibly clean.

The bags are quick detach and have a nice waterproof seal. Now I am not a huge fan of clam shell bags, because personally I like top load ones, like on the baggers. I feel this way because they are easy to cram stuff into them traveling. The clamshells take a little more finesse, but you can get a ton of stuff in them. Someone once told me the mark of a good saddlebag is, can you put a 12 pack in it. You definitely can with these ones.

The riding position is nice and comfortable. The mid controls keep you in a good position for some spirited riding in the curves, but still comfortable when ticking away at the miles on the highway.

The Ride:

Our ride starts in Zanesville Ohio & this town is mostly known for its Y shaped bridge, and one time a bunch of tigers got loose and had to be hunted by local law enforcement. Today I am taking 555 south out of Zanesville. It’s straight for a few miles out of town, and then it gets pretty curvy, pretty fast. There are a lot of great roads in southern and south eastern Ohio, but 555 is above the rest, or it is known to the locals as the “Triple Nickel”. It’s kind of like deals gap, but it’s about 70 miles long, hilly, and has a great combo of switchbacks and sweepers. Today we are not doing the entire 555 ride. We are turning off 555 onto 78 east in the tiny town of Ringgold Ohio. Ringgold was named for Samuel Ringgold, the “Father of Modern Artillery”, and according to the internet, nothing has ever happened there since.

The Lowrider is at home in the curves as any other sport tourer, because it changes directions quickly and smoothly, plus it is incredibly stable in the turns. When you roll into the throttle while coming out of a turn, the acceleration is smooth, linear, and predictable. Also, braking into turns happens smoothly and without any weird reaction from the bike.

Harley claims the lean angle is 31 degrees on both sides. I found that on the right it goes until the foot peg scrapes, and on the left side, the foot peg scrapes first as well, but if you hit a dip on the left handers, the rear shock dips a little early, and the kickstand will throw a few sparks. I am thinking a rear shock upgrade will be in order for this bike. Now, 555 Generally does not have much traffic, so I was able to put the bike through the paces, and today I found that neither 555 or the Lowrider ST left me feeling disappointed.

I already swapped out the stock solo seat for an aftermarket two up one. The stock seat has a “gel” seat feeling, and I’m not a fan, but I know some people love it. Your call on that one.

The fairing on this bike worked excellent. There is zero buffeting on my helmet and the vents in the fairing keep the air flowing well enough that the port and vents in my helmet and jacket all work properly. I did find a small amount of buffeting with the visor of my helmet open at highway speed. This was kind of odd, but I think a wee tweak with the windshield shape could easily fix this. But that is a small detail, 5 Stars, overall.

Now for everyone’s favorite part of the Harley, the engine. This engine has the thump and rumble you would expect from a modern Harley, but nothing that shakes your hands at a maintained highway speed. The M8 117 is absolutely killer! It has torque for days, and if you grab the throttle in the power band, the horsepower will launch this bike through the rpm range. Even if you don’t downshift it enough, you can just give it more gas and it will pull.

Back to the ride; Once we turned onto 78, at Ringgold, I found the sweepers and rolling hills of 78 to be magical. The foliage had just started to change colors from summer to fall, and there was a fresh coat of pavement on most of this road, and traffic was scarce. 78 took me through McConnelsville Ohio. It is a nice town, but if you follow the signs for 78, you will be back to carving the sweepers in no time. A few miles outside of town is the big Muskie Bucket, located in Jesse Owen’s State Park. The entrance in mid sweeper, so you may miss it if you are having a good time on the turns, like I was doing. But no matter how fast you are riding, be mindful of your turn in location. The driveway is gravel, but the parking lot is concrete for easy motorcycle parking.

The Bucket and Park

The bucket is located in Miners Memorial Park, which is located in Jesse Owens State Park. Jesse Owens State Park is public use land that offers primitive camping, plus public hunting and fishing areas.

Big Muskie was a dragline shovel that was used for strip mining, and at the time it was the world’s largest earth moving machine. After mining operations ceased, the land was reclaimed, and a Miners Memorial Park was established, and the bucket was left as a centerpiece to the park.

Built in 1969, Big Muskie could move 39 million pounds of earth and rock every hour, with the intent of digging up the coal seams 100-150 feet down. Big Muskie could swing its boom 600 feet, and it could creep across the landscape on four giant shoes. The shovel was in operation until 1991 when mining operations ceased. Big Muskie removed more than 608,000,000 cubic yards of dirt, twice the amount of earth moved during the construction of the Panama Canal.

But back to the Lowrider. After some time checking out the bucket, I threw my stuff in the bags and headed out to hit a few more curves on 78, then in McConnelsville I took 60 north to a great BBQ place.

Boondocks BBQ and Grill.

This place is located along the Muskingum River, and you can walk down to the river from the restaurant. There is even a park next door if you wanted to get your food “To Go”. I had the pulled pork, fries and a bowl of chili. All of it was outstanding. From here I took route 60 north, and enjoyed some rolling hills and gentle sweepers for a little more of a leisurely ride back home to Cleveland.

In summary, Harley really knocked it out of the park with this bike. Every detail of this bike has been gone over, and is above and beyond what I would expect in a new bike. The only short coming is the suspension is a little soft and divey for a sport-oriented bike, but honestly you won’t notice until you really put it through the paces in the turns. Even then I am probably mentally comparing it to the upgraded suspension I had on my Dyna. Electrically, all the features like cruise control, self-canceling turn signals, miles to empty, and tachometer work perfectly, in addition they can easily be scrolled through at the handlebar switch. So, if you get a chance to throw a leg over one, I doubt you will be disappointed.

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